Over Coffee
by Sapadu
Summary: A Death Star Drabble. I can't help it. Just read.


Here, I cannot help but ask "What the hell am I thinking?" However, I saw this movie, called "Clerks" and they have this one sketch about Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and about the second Death Star. Their conversation is pretty much exactly like this one.

I just figured these characters would be the best and most in character to muse about this.

Over Coffee

"Hey, with the second Death Star, how'd they get it done so quickly?" Ken mused over a textbook. Jacen, just as irritated with his homework, shot a glare at Ken.

"Your granpa was the Emperor- You tell us." He snapped as his twin sister and brother looked up from their activities. Jaina was fiddling with a handheld computer and Anakin was playing with his baby cousin, Ben.

"Well, YOUR grandfather was Darth Vader. HE probably did most of the contracting and stuff." Ken shot back, rather immaturely for a college student. Jacen stuck out his tongue.

"You wanna lose that, Jace?" Jaina asked, raising an eyebrow. Jacen sobered. Anakin made a humming noise, shaking a rattle at Ben.

"Well, what do you mean 'How'd they get it built?'" Anakin asked, never taking his eyes from the toddler.

"Well... think about it: The first Death Star took quite a while to build, and when the Rebel Alliance went in to destroy it, it was fully complete and functional. The only people who were on it were, like, the Imperials- stormtroopers, Grand Moffs, a few officers, and maybe a lawyer or two, but either way, all evil people." Ken explained, and when the Solo's acknowledged this, he continued, "BUT, the SECOND Death Star was incomplete. And who was building it, in the first place? Not the stormtroopers or other Imperials- they only know how to shoot, and BADLY at that- so the Empire HAD to have been hiring independent contractors to build it for them- Doomium and Phobium side-platers, electricians, welders, riveters... all sorts of people! And since the second Death Star was blown up when it was halfway complete, what if those builders were still ON the Death Star when it exploded? Technically, that's manslaughter!" The twins blinked.

"But, isn't it the responsibility of independent contractors to investigate their clients? To make sure they're not doing something to violate the law, or working for someone who won't pay them?" Anakin asked, taking his eye off of Ben, who promptly sunk his budding teeth into Anakin's finger. Anakin shouted in pain.

"That's a good point, but who in their right mind would say to the Emperor 'I'm sorry, Mr. Palpatine, sir, but I need to do a background scan to make sure you're not going to stiff me after the job is done, or that you might do something illegal with this Death Star project'?" Jacen asked, looking incredulous. Jaina tapped her finger against her chin, thinking. She could just imagine that Emperor Palpatine certainly wouldn't take too well to something like that.

"Wait a minute- suppose the Empire put out some sort of propaganda about the Death Star and the contractors working on it were all supporters of that propaganda?" Jaina asked, suddenly.

"Yeah! Maybe the 'Death Star' to us was a new super defense weapon against the 'Terrorist Rebels'!" Jacen agreed. Ken put away his homework, looking inspired and his gray eyes lighting up.

"Or maybe they all just came to work because Vader or Palpatine used the Jedi Mind Trick on them!" Ken suggested, sitting on the edge of his seat like a little kid. Jacen thought this was cool, so he went along with Ken's thinking.

"Or what if Palpatine used his infinite wealth and power to, like, bribe them, or blackmail them!" Anakin added, before Jaina put in her two cents.

"Or threatened to send them to the Spice Mines in Kessel if they didn't!" She said. Jacen stood up.

"Or perhaps Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader rounded up all of their families and held them captive until the project was finished, and then all of the workers got to bust open the jail cells and prisons when the Emperor was killed!" He struck a pose. Ken thought for a moment, again.

"But, then, all these innocent people were on board the Death Star when it exploded, still!" Ken insisted, frowning. Everyone was silent, except for Ben, who was starting to make a gurgling sort of noise.

"Maybe they all got in the escape pods before it blew up?" Jaina suggested, looking unsure. Anakin took the rattle out of Ben's mouth.

"Wasn't Uncle Luke on the Death Star while it was under attack? HE got off!" Anakin insisted, as thought this would make a difference. A light came on in Jaina's eyes.

"What if Uncle Luke got all the prisoners off?" She suddenly asked, looking awed. Jacen rounded on Ken.

"Yeah! Aren't YOU the one who studied our uncle like he was a God or something?" Jacen demanded. Ken frowned.

"Well... yeah, but the books never said anything about THAT- it's such a personal detail, we only would have found out if we'd done interviews, and the Droids were so secretive..." Ken mumbled, but still looked open to the suggestion with Luke Skywalker involved. Anakin fell over as Ben crawled at him.

"WOW! THIS IS SO MEGA COOL!" He squealed, stars in his eyes. Jaina leaned over to help her brother up.

"Did ya hear that, short stack? Your Daddy's a HERO!" She said, in an enthused voice.

"Goo." Replied Ben, sucking on his thumb.

-----------------------

"I told you Ken was good with kids." Luke told his wife. Mara Jade glared, pulling away from the door, where she'd been watching.

"Okay, I owe you dinner."


End file.
